Shell to shut its 800 KTa mixed-feed cracker at Bukom Island

October 05/2011

(ICIS) -- Shell is expected to shut its
800 KTa mixed-feed cracker at Bukom Island in Singapore as soon as at the
end of this week, when its inventory of feedstocks runs out, traders said on
Wednesday. The company's 500,000 bbl/day Bukom refinery, which provides naphtha
feedstock to the cracker, was forced shut last week by a blaze that took 30
hours to completely extinguish."It might be possible the cracker will sooner
or later be down," said a trader. The cracker is currently running at low
operating rates, according to market sources.

Shell produces an estimated 250,000 tonnes of naphtha per month from the
Bukom refinery. A fifth of the naphtha output is supplied to feed into the Bukom
cracker, while Petrochemical Corp of Singapore gets 100,000 tonnes, said a
market source.